Christ the King v Woodlands Bablake: Woodlands' captain Mark Hobson clears as they lose 1-0 at Christ the King in the Coventry Alliance.

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Nuneaton Griff’s Midland Combination challenge faltered when they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Earlswood Town – a result that was all the more frustrating when they learned that pace-setters Brocton had suffered their first defeat of the season.

But Paul Wilson declared himself proud of a side stripped of 12 players and reduced to ten men just before the interval when Dave Barnett was red-carded for an outburst at the referee.

It was 1-1 at that stage – Jack Webb’s opportunist curler giving the Heartlanders the lead against the run of play before Chris Conway rammed in Chris Bright’s cross via the bar – but Town promptly cashed in on the extra space when Aaron Roberts unleashed a superb drive that even the prime-form Dave Watson couldn’t handle.

Griff had plenty of possession in the second half but couldn’t produce any opportunities even when manager Wilson joined the fray for a final push .

Southam United maintained their upward progress with a 5-0 romp against Castle Vale JKS. Simeon Smith taking pride of place with a second-half hat-trick.

That lop-sided result didn’t look likely in the first half as JKS enjoyed the better of the game before being caught out when Tom Muldoon’s long ball gave Robbie Stephens the chance to ram home the opener.

But the visitors’ defence crumbled as top scorer Smith cut loose to make it 20 goals in 21 games this season and Lee Knibbs’s side rounded off their fourth win on the spin when Oli Manoochehri pounced just before the final whistle.

Alvis Sporting reached the half-way stage of their campaign with a 0-0 draw at Studley, an excellent result after their injury-hit side suffered a fresh blow when goalkeeper Arron Thomasson had to be substituted in the second minute.

Replacement Jack Hartopp pulled off two excellent saves while Alvis went closest to breaking the deadlock when the returning Patrick Suffo saw his superb snap shot tipped over the bar.

“We’ve become very hard team to beat,” said Alvis boss Damian Cassidy. “If we take out the early midweek games where we came up short we have settled into the Premier Division extremely well and currently sit with some long and well established teams.”

Bottom club Racing Club Warwick came from 2-0 adrift to earn a point at Coventry Copsewood in a game that saw both sides finish with ten men while home boss Darren Dickson was ordered from the bench.

Ross Wimbush fired Copsewood in front from Adam Spalding’s low cross and they made it 2-0 when Michael Bawden’s sinuous dribble opened the door for PJ Gordon.

But Wimbush was ordered off for his role in a flare-up just before the break and Racing took full advantage, Ryan Langmead netting twice despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Scott Furlong before Elliott Powell collected his second yellow card.

Coventry Sphinx manager Luke Hopkins admits his side need to find a consistent streak if they are to establish themselves at the sharp end of the Midland Alliance.

They had to settle for a 3-3 share at bottom club Heather St John’s, conceding an injury-time equaliser after battling back to take the lead thanks to two substitute strikes.

And Hopkins conceded: “I had mixed emotions after the game. We started slowly in both halves and at 2-1 down we’d have perhaps settled for saving a point away from home.

“But Heather are bottom of the league and if we want to be a top-six side we need to be coming out of games like that with three points.” Sphinx broke the deadlock with a Kiam Galdins goal after half-an-hour and had chances to take a stranglehold on the game before the break.

But they lost their way in the second period, Dean Withers and Troy Wallen nudging Heather ahead, and it wasn’t until Hopkins pepped up his attack that they made an impact – Aden Moore hauling them level with a long-range cracker before Adam Bilic pounced at the far post to seemingly tip the scales.

There was still time for the home side to launch a final assault, however, and when Sphinx switched off at a free-kick, Richard Lonsdale snapped up the goal that lifted Heather off the foot of the table.